Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Heidi: Storytelling Classrooms
Heidi: Storytelling Classrooms
21
introduction
storytelling is described as a technique of teaching that has stood the test of time
chambers 1970 p 43 with first language children storytelling is being promoted as
an ideal method of influencing a child to associate listening with pleasure of increasing
a childs attention span and retention capacity or broadening vocabulary and of
introducing a child to the symbolic use of language cooper 1989 p 3 nearly every
advocate of storytelling in classrooms points out that it is just good plain fun other
values of storytelling for first language children are listed as sensitivity to various forms
of syntax diction and rhetoric recognizing patterns in language and human experience
stimulating creativity and giving practice in problem solving decision making and
evaluation baker and greene 1987
storytelling in english as a second language ESL classrooms is often used
informally by teachers to share cultural and personal information eg telling
american stories or growing up stories or simply stories from ones experiences
to communicate an idea more recently however storytelling has been promoted as an
effective way to teach the english language to non
native speakers stories are valued
nonnative
as providing comprehensible input that facilitates language acquisition hendrickson
1992 ESL EEL
EFL professional journals eg english teaching forum january 1995
conference presentations and textbook publishers are highlighting this topic ranging
from a focus on teacher as storyteller to student as storyteller to hiring professional
EFL classrooms
storytellers to tell tales in ESL EEL
the interest
review will be on what proponents claim as the specific instructional outcomes when
using storytelling as well as theoretical underpinnings to suggest storytelling as an
effective tool for language instruction in the first section of the paper a brief history
and definitions of storytelling are presented followed by descriptions of storytelling in
classrooms and ending with theoretical underpinnings to support storytelling as an
TESL reporter
22
oral story the transcribed story and the literary story have existed since the
beginning of time As jane yolen editor of favorite folktales
Folk tales from around the world
explains storytelling the oldest of arts has always been both an entertainment and a
1986 pl
cultural necessity
storytellers breathed life into human cultures
historically oral cultures throughout the world had and many still have the tradition of
an esteemed storyteller ie the irish shanachie the african griot the european
minstrels and troubadours
trouba dours and the native american tale teller
having a large
repertoire of stories and songs storytellers told tales of local and national history as well
as moral stories creation stories love stories adventure stories and supernatural tales
yolen 1986 pa
p2
today in the united states the tradition of storytelling has been revived in 1974
the national association for the preservation and perpetuation of storytelling NAPPS
Jonesborough tennessee it has since
began out of a tiny storytelling festival held in jonesborough
become nationally renowned more recently other storytelling groups such as the north
dakota center for the book also began to promote storytelling and festivals or
tellabrations
in 1992
as
passed on
traditions learned skills and most importantly developed our
storytelling is at the heart of human
limitless imaginations
experience a means by which we gain a better understanding of
line
ourselves and our world storytelling on
online
formal telling of stories has a history full of treasure and delight even
informally in daily conversations the use of storytelling to communicate ideas and to
express ones experiences is evident stories are passed frequently between people
children tell stories to their imaginary playmates and about them adults tell their
co
childhood stories to their children stories are told between coworkers
workers about bosses or
clients stories are told from the pulpit the lectern and the podium stories are told to
entertain inform educate enlighten and simply emote eric hoffer an american
philosopher claims that humans have an innate need to tell stories and we must story
our lives to make order and sense out of them he claims man is eminently a
storyteller his search for a purpose a cause an ideal a mission and the like is largely
a story that is
a search for a plot and a pattern in the development of his life story
basically without meaning or pattern hoffer 1955 p 62 according to hoffer stories
give meaning to life some say that educators in the same way use stories to give
meaning in learning
the
storytelling
23
stories in classrooms
the
arguments for teachers using stories in the classroom are found in case studies
ranging from preschool
pre school through university level classrooms most deal with how
stories are used both when the teacher is storyteller and when students are storytellers
for example morgan and rinvolucri 1983 discuss teacher use of stories as lead ins to
listening comprehension activities and as prompts for written comprehension questions
after stories are told by the teacher students may be asked to retell the story to practice
speaking or to recall details and sequence stories also provide a context to discuss
grammatical points morgan and rinvolucri 1983 contend that as stories are told
affective filters come down and language acquisition takes place more naturally they
list linguistic benefits such as improved listening comprehension grammar presented in
true to life contexts and numerous opportunities to encourage oral production
pedersen 1995 advocates teachers as storytellers and storytelling as a pedagogical
method especially when working with ESL children stories help to communicate
literary and cultural heritage while also helping learners better develop a sense of
rhetorical structure which assists in the study of literature and in their own writing
pederson explains that stories enable ESL children to have an experience with the
teacheress
tea
powerful real language of personal communication not the usual teacherese
of the
cherese
the full range of language is present in stories 1995 p
foreign language classroom
2 the benefits he found in telling ESL children stories were that listening skills were
developed and more natural and complete language input was possible affective
benefits include helping the children to develop emotionally and socially
hines 1995 found that using story theater in which stories are dramatized was
successful in her second language classroom As students acted out a piece of text and
told a story she claimed their affective filters were lowered so that language learning
could more easily take place she suggests that teachers first select and introduce the
story then encourage students to create their own interpretations working in small
groups to perform the story students thus communicate and work together to accomplish
their task besides application as a second language learning tool hines also found that
storytelling helped as a means to connect cultural experiences common experiences of
the students different cultures were often discovered as students worked with
multi cultural stories hines reiterated campbells 1987 observation that universal
multicultural
themes are expressed in the myths and legends from all cultures
other authors advocate students as storytellers drawing upon their own personal
stories and experiences cooper author of when stories come to school 1993 focused
on elementary aged children telling their personal stories and then acting them out she
noted many advantages and explained that
24
TESL
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storytelling
25
consistent with scientific method which promotes behavior ruled by reason only p 60
26
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students feel important since a lesson centers around student interaction stories and
thoughts
storytelling
27
personal learning style of each student may be more readily accommodated when using
stones during learning since storytelling allows for personalized interpretations and
stories
visualizations of the content
study with ESL students on how knowledge or lack of knowledge of the structure of
stories influenced learner comprehension and recall of a story she found that discourse
as well as understanding in english were greatly influenced by knowledge of story
structure the importance of background knowledge and recognition of story structure
e g carrell 1984a 1984b
in
m second language comprehension is now widely accepted eg
kintsch & yarbrough 1982 mandler 1978 for ESL learners use of stories in the
classroom can result in better language comprehension higher interest and enhanced
learning of cultural aspects academically bound ESL students are likely to benefit from
the rhetorical structure inherent within storytelling recognizing text structure assists
them as they attempt to employ sophisticated reading strategies and to interact with
difficult unfamiliar texts
TESL
28
reporter
stress are likewise missing despite the importance of schemata activation and story
structure familiarity in reading and writing proficiency the effects of storytelling in these
areas have received little attention evidence to suggest the affective benefits of stories
in the second language classroom are likewise anecdotal rather than grounded firmly in
research it seems that these areas are rich
searchers as they
nch possibilities for teacher re researchers
focus on action research within their classrooms
there
29
hearing family stories on a regular basis may naturally use storytelling in their
classrooms
the information
conclusion
teachers are increasingly being provided with an array of creative storytelling
materials and ideas for second language learning advocates discuss benefits which
include enhanced student enjoyment lower affective filters authentic and enriched
language input and more inclusion
ary collaborative classrooms stones
inclusionary
mclusionary
stories appear to
enable students to draw upon their own experiences and to organize information in
personalized ways thus better comprehending and retaining information and concepts
however scholarly discussion and research are needed to better understand benefits for
second language learning interpersonal communication and cognitive processing
storytelling as a pedagogical tool in ESL needs examination from an interdisciplinary
perspective and better support on the basis of both theoretical and instructional
principles
TESL reporter
30
references
baker A & greene E 1987
R R bowker company
campbell J
1987
storytelling
primitive mythology
the masks
of
1970
hines M
jj16
1995
eric
111
1
hoffer E 1955
the passionate state of mind and other aphorisms new york
harper publishing
holt
& mooney B
kintsch W
& yarbrough
journal
comprehension
listen
liston
1994
1982
role of rhetorical structure in text
of educational psychology 74 828 834
J
livo
1994
N &
rietz
1987
mandler J M 1978
discourse processes
the
storytelling
31
morgan M
& rinvolucri M
pedersen E M
3312
331 2
33l2
1983
1995
pesola C A
1991
31
1994
shrum J & ghsan
teacher
ahsan E
instruction boston heinle and heinle
storytelling
yolen J
handbook
contextualized language
line httph
bendit
http www sendit
for the book on
online
september 29 1998
nodakedundslcftbtellastoryhtmi
nodakedundslcftbtellastoryhtml
A
wright
wrighta
1995
ed
new york
random house